Climbed the NW Chute route, with a variation from Dorothy Pass. This was a combined backpacking/climbing trip covering ~42 miles over three days. All of the travel from Dorothy Pass to Tower Lake was off-trail. It was one of the most satisfying trips I have ever taken!

Backpacked into Tower Lake, then in the morning scrambled up to the summit and packed out.

The lingering snowfields on the north side of Tower Pass could be entirely skirted via use trails. Came up around the other snowfield on the right side (slabs). Windy and cool but otherwise excellent day. Descended on the climber's left (talus and slabs) of the snowfield.

I was amazed to find rock-walled bivy sites on a flat spot near the summit.

Route Climbed: East Slope to North Ridge to NW Chute Date Climbed: July 12, 2004

Dayhiked from Twin Lakes (Bridgeport) with ScottyS. Along the way, we stopped off at Center Mountain, Hawksbeak Peak, and Ehrnbeck Peak, and traversed from Ehrnbeck to Tower on one of the most tedious ridge routes I have ever been on (via Peak 10,654). Not technically difficult, just nasty routefinding with a seemingly infinite array of obstacles (trees, brush, sheer walled gullies, short steep little headwalls). Crossed the East Slope to the North Ridge and thence via the NW Chute. Descended the same until the tower, then off to the east to avoid steep slabs and snow. Cross-country to the trail that heads into Buckeye Canyon, a long slog up to the canyon head, and a forever walk out of that dry, dusty, miserable canyon. We left a car at the Buckeye Trailhead, and we arrived there after 19:45 hiking time, covering 35-37 miles with 10-11,000' of elevation gain/loss. Even after 2 days of forgetting about it, I can't recommend this route to anyone else. Especially the Buckeye Canyon portion. Scotty has a trip report coming soon.

Camped at Tower Lake and ascended via the NW Chute. It was a little more than my friend wanted to tackle, so I left him on the ridge and made the final ascent myelf. Clouds moving in fast from the east, so I could only stay on the summit for 10 minutes. Great climb though...!

a 13hr "warmup" for the 2003 Sierra Challenge, this took longer than any of the Sierra Challenge hikes/climbs with the exception of Mt. Tyndall. One must travel the length of the West Walker River at least once in a Sierra career, but doing it twice just shows you haven't learned anything. The climb itself is fairly easy and barely earns a class 3 rating. Great Views. Along with Michael Graupe's dayhike 4 days earlier, this is likely the first time the peak has ever had three dayhikes in one season. Some pics.